High speed container filling systems are well known and used in many different industries. In many of the systems, fluids are supplied to containers to be filled through a series of pumps, pressurized tanks and flow meters and/or valves to help ensure the correct amount of fluid is dispensed into the containers. When filling containers, especially at high rates, however, conventional pumps, pressurized or gravity fed systems and valves can create a surge of fluid at the end of the filling cycle that can cause the fluid in the container to splash in a direction generally opposite to the direction of filling and often out of the container being filled. This can lead to a waste of the fluid, contamination of the outer surfaces of the container and/or contamination of the filling equipment itself. Further, compensating for splash-back to reduce the adverse effects often forces manufacturers to use containers such as bottles that include enough head space to prevent any back-splash from exiting the bottle. As such, the containers used often have a volume that is significantly larger than the volume of the fluid to be filled into the container. This creates waste in terms of the amount of material used to make the containers, which can be costly, and can result in containers that appears to be less than completely filled.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved fluid filling system, and especially a fluid shutoff valve assembly that will provide very little or no splash-back at the end of the filling cycle.